The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-05-28
THE GERMAN ARMY IN SOCIETY


Soldiers. ~
An American who has just come bacl
from Germany treated several of us thu
other evening to avery interesting mon
ologue on the German army in German
society. When late in the sixteenth
century Europe began to awake from
feudalism she did SO very slowly, ant
almost regretfully. Some of the wors
features of the feudal regime remained
and remain even to this day. They
may present themselves under a new
aspect, assume a guise less shocking to
the modern eye. but they are essentially
the same as they were four or five hun
bred years ago. In Prussia the com
mon soldier gets for three years SER
vice his board, which is. to express it
mildly, very plain and frugal. Besides
he gets remuneration of 20 ptennis
b cents per day. A young Lieutenant
after graduating at five or six classic
polytechnic, and military schools, is en-
titled to n salary of $50 marks, or S3I
a month. lie is expected to provide fol
his uniform, and. if he is cavalry OF
ficer, for his horse and servant. He
has little expense in procuring ser
want, for any common soldier thinks
himself happy to get position as III
officers servant with SO or "a month.
A lieutenant from about % to 20 years
old can not expect to be raised to the
next highest rank, which is that OF cap
tain. before attaining at least his thir'
ty-sixth year. Besides, it is always
morally certain that every young Ollie
err has TO spend four or five years in an
out-of-the-w garrison in some pro
yincal town. Nevertheless, 1t is a fact,
proved by statistics (the favorite sci
ence of Bsmarck), that the number Of
young men DESTROYS to become officers
in the army increases steadily year at
ter year.
Now, how is this to be accounted fort
Only one reason can be given for it,
but that is ample. Every young man
who enters the army as candidate for the
oflicership. in so doing joins himself tc
the aristocracy of the land. His uni
form opens to him the way to the high
est circles of society. At all court
festivals he is introduced into the pres
ence of the king or kaiser, as the case
may be. He is invited to all the great
banquets, for which, however, he
is obliged to pay his share. Thus il
often happens that our lieutenant dimes
on several courses of airy but very ex
pensiye dishes, and after feasting on
truffles and champagne goes to cheap
restaurant to quiet the cravings of his
stomach with leberwurst and saurkrout
Every German officer, from the beard
less lieutenant still in the habit Of
chewing candy TO the grull-voiced ma
ior, hopes to make his fortune BY
marrying the daughter of a rich parvenu
And it is fact that nine out of every
ten do succeed. There is no shorter,
surer, and, as far as the young marri-
ageable maiden is concerned, no more
agreeable way of becoming part of the
elite than the marriage with an officer,
young one if possible, but even an
old one rather than none at all. The
art of Irritation is an accomplishment
deemed absolutely indispensable in ev-
cry officer. Flirting is the young lieu
tenants second nature He hirts in
the salon, in the theater, on the prom.
enade Only dueling is his great pas
sion. BY the rules of of the corps he
is obliged to accept any challenge com.
ing from persons not below him in
social standing. The favorite duel of
officers is the combat of swords. so
called after the long and broad swords
fused. In this duel the fighting par
ties are half naked-i. c., the upper
half of their bodies is exposed. III an
officer is caught dueling he is arrested
and nominally sentenced. But he new
er thinks of taking this seriously. II
he refuses to accept challenge his fell
low-officers compel him to leave the
army.
1t is treat to watch young leu
tenant while he is drilling his men. He
has four or five corporals to assist him.
His chief occupation is to stand mo-
tionless but in threatening attitudes in
the midst of the new soldiers. He very
seldom says anything-that would be
directly sacrificing his dignity. When
ever some unlucky recruit or other tries
to rouse himself to due appreciation
of the glories of the soldiers life, and